Gay Cruise Passengers Speak Out

The two men arrested on their Dominica cruise ship tell quite a different story than that told in the press release issued by Atlantis Events president Rich Campbell. The Washington Post reports:

Dennis Jay Mayer, 53, told The Associated Press that he has no doubt they were arrested in Dominica because they were gay. [snip] “He said: ‘You’re being arrested for being gay. We’re arresting you for the crime of buggery,’” Mayer said. “He said that other people said that we were engaging in homosexual sex. He repeated that several times. I told him I didn’t know why they would say that. I wasn’t doing that.” Mayer said he was naked in his cabin and nearly naked on the balcony. “I was less partially clothed than I should have been.” During the interrogation, the police official threatened to take them to a clinic and have them medically examined for proof of homosexual activity, Mayer said. “He said, you know, we’re looking for specific things, fluids, bruising, things of that nature,” Mayer said. After making the threat, the official left the room, then came back saying they had a right to refuse the test, Mayer said.

Mayer adds that while the couple was transported to the police station, an angry crowd surrounded the police car to chant, scream, and bang on the vehicle.

They paraded many people by to look in on us as if we were some type of animal, which was quite humiliating,” he said. “People got great joy in the pleasure of taunting us.” In Thursday morning, police drove them to the courthouse in the capital of Roseau, passing through an angry crowd, Mayer said. “They were chanting and banging on the police vehicle. They were screaming things,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life, other than in movies. Both my partner and I really feared for our safety.” Police drove around the block twice to avoid the crowd and journalists. Officers formed a barricade with their bodies and urged Mayer and his partner to run into the courthouse and not stop.

Does that sound like a “traffic ticket,” as Campbell dismissed the entire ordeal?